Electromechanical assemblies based on suspended nanotubes and other molecular-scale electrically conductive and mechanically flexible wires and their use as motors, generators, pumps, fans, compressors, propulsion systems, transmitters, receivers, heat engines, heat pumps, magnetic field sensors, magnetic field generators, inertial energy storage, and acoustic energy conversion are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,196,450, issued to Pinkerton et al., on Mar. 27, 2007, entitled “Electromechanical Assemblies Using Molecular-Scale Electrically Conductive And Mechanically Flexible Beams And Methods For Application Of Same,” which patent is incorporated herein by reference. Heat activated nanometer-scale pumps are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20070048160 to Pinkerton, published Mar. 1, 2007, entitled “Heat Activated Nanometer-Scale Pump,” which application is incorporated herein by reference.
Thermally driven excitations of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), clamped at one end only, were investigated by Treacy, et al. (Nature 1996, 381, 678). Electrically driven mechanical vibrations of multi-walled nanotubes was observed by Poncharal, et al. (Science, 1999, 283, 1513). Babic, et al. (Nano Letters 2003, 3(11), 1577) later described thermally driven mechanical vibrations of suspended doubly clamped single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in thermal equilibrium at room temperature, and calculated the Young's modulus of CVD-grown SWNTs from the measured rms vibration amplitude.